These videos on this page cover the basics for 4 strokes.
- Freestyle (or Front Crawl)
- Backstroke (crawl)
- Breast Stroke
- Butterfly videos are on the Advanced and Competition page
Some of the videos have short ads you can skip. Times are rounded off to the nearest minute.
Freestyle
Breathing Tips
Breathing tips from Keri-Anne Payne—a very smoooth swimmer. (~1 min.)
“Tarzan” or “head-up” swimming drills
Named for Johnny Weismuller’s swimming style and his Tarzan movies, this version of freestyle is not the most efficient method, but it is good for:
1. Training to strengthen the swimmer’s core strength, kick, and stroke.
2. Lifesaving–this stroke allows the rescuer to keep their eyes on the victim.
3. Water polo–swimming with the ball requires the head-up crawl.
This short video (~1 min.) illustrates the basics of the Tarzan stroke.
Back crawl stroke
Ryan Lochte is a world champion backstroker. This short video clearly shows the important points of swimming backstroke properly.
Breaststroke
Basics
Nice demo of the modern breaststroke. (2 min.)
Breaststroke Drills
Some basic drills to improve your breaststroke.